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The State League pays monthly for a Pro Zoom account, which lets us host meetings of up to 100 participants with no limit on meeting time. State Zoom account is available on a first come, first served basis. Default meeting time is one hour - please contact us at lwvor@lwvor.org if you need more time.

Tracking League Priorities and Community Impact LWVOR has produced a Volunteer Data Collection Form for Leagues to enter their event activities, volunteer hours, and other information as part of the LWVUS Annual League Survey. We received feedback from several people that the provided data tracking spreadsheet is complicated to use so we offer our new form as an alternative. At the end of the calendar year, all data will be shared with local Leagues and LWVUS. Note: If your League is already tracking data and you have a system that works for you, there is no need to complete this form. Also, we would happily provide a copy of this form for your League to use if you prefer. Report The True Value Of Contributions To Our Communities And For Grant Funding Volunteer hours can translate into an exact value* that can help meet matching requirements or give funders an idea of what the League could do with more resources. *Important to show how effective the organization is in achieving its mission. Illustrate A More Complete Picture Of Volunteer Impact Tracking will answer key questions for donors: Why should they donate to your organization over others? Track volunteer time to understand, internally, where volunteers are making the most impact. Data-based evidence on which program or activity volunteers are most effective can steer better decisions for where to invest more time, training and investment. Recognize And Retain Incredible Volunteers Some volunteers just like to know how much of a difference their time makes. Recognizing volunteer efforts highlighting certain involvement milestones or making it easy to define their contribution to an individual or team accomplishment is always appreciated. These gestures help build closer teams and communities and increase retention, a common challenge for nonprofits. We hope the form simplifies the process of collecting your event and program details, so we can all better understand League priorities and community impact. Questions about the form or want to email your results to us directly? Contact us at lwvor@lwvor.org.

Spring raced right on by in my garden, along with nearly half of the year! The seeds of change are now planted there and with the League of Women Voters of Oregon (LWVOR). Our Council business meeting, held in Salem this year, was attended by delegates from every local League with only one of our smaller Units not represented. Council is where we conduct League business that our bylaws require decisions by a majority of representatives of our entire LWVOR membership. We had a quorum and the requisite votes to pass a remarkable budget, select new board members and officers, and to review and refresh our Strategic Plan goals and objectives. We were motivated by an academic review of the dire nature of these political times and had our hopes rekindled by hearing the aspirations of our youth. The 2026 -2027 budget draws on our reserves like at no other time in this leagues history. If reserves are held for a rainy day, currently it's pouring. The membership spoke and we have united and risen to the challenges arrayed against democracy. We reviewed the eight LWVOR 2025 - 2030 Strategic Plan objectives to get a sense of our progress since September of last year and what the outcomes of our work are shaping up to be. We addressed branding, voter service, youth advocacy, Oregon Mock Student Elections, fiduciary responsibility, strategic alliances and yes, civil discourse and burnout. Our working groups are identifying how we address those needs within the framework of our Leagues positions and principles and grow them into the fabric of our everyday work with our new budget and Board. Dr. William Smaldone, a PhD in history at Willamette University is a double Fulbright scholar and world expert in German and European history. He provided a detailed comparative analysis between the societal, cultural, political, economic, technical and industrial aspects of 1939 Germany and 2026 Washington DC. Chilling to say the least, but motivating just the same. Evan Tucker, a league member from Lane County and member of the LWVOR Board, gave a rousing presentation about his experience as an early member of LWVOR’s Youth Council and why that engagement matters for youth. Georgia Livny of Portland spoke of her life’s goal of becoming a public health physician. It is outstanding and uplifting to hear such a clear, compassionate and informed voice of reason and care come from one as young as 17 years old. She spoke of how her tenure with the Youth Council shaped and informed her academic and social pursuits. Georgia is most definitely one of us and some of you have rubbed off on her. In our youth I see the promise of the future, here and now. Our devoted Action Committee, headed by Jean Pierce, produced an outstanding video that summarizes the myriad issues members advocate from our held positions in the Oregon legislature and with the public at large. This is a great introduction to the people and their dedication to the Action Committees work. Please show it to your leagues or the general public as a recruitment tool for league or Action Committee membership. Action is always looking for both experts and generalists familiar with specific natural resource, societal, political, academic or cultural arenas of our work. Want to learn what it means to be a lobbyist, how to give legislative testimony or present research findings to decision makers? Then our Action Committee can provide you that training and use your enthusiasm and help. The largest LWVOR budget in history was passed for 2026 -2027. Starting in July, LWVOR is authorized to invest $393,000 in fiscal year 2026-27 from revenues and over $160,000 of our three quarters of a million in savings. With that budget, we will retain our one permanent full-time staff and have four contract employees for a total of 3 full time equivalents. A doubling of historical staff resources! It’s essentially a lot more help to address the ongoing achievement of LWVOR strategic objectives and to support the work of our local leagues and units. Abigail Hertzler will continue as our expert Administrative Director and Lindsay LaPlante will continue on as ½ time contractor focusing specifically on Membership and VOTE411. Our newest contractor, Andrea Capere, will help implement our Communications and Marketing portfolio objectives under the guidance of first Vice President and Communications Chair, Barbara Klein. Over the summer our Human Resources Committee, headed by Barbara Keirnes-Young, will add two more half - time specialists. A new Development Coordinator will address fiduciary responsibility and help share best practices for fundraising with our fifteen local leagues while developing relationships with the philanthropic communities aligned with our mission. A new Youth Outreach Coordinator will help us grow our reach into the ranks of youth motivated to shape their own and societies collective futures. Together, these new staff will sustain our growth in membership, maintain our fiduciary responsibility, and help us develop the strategic alliances called for now to defend democracy and empower voters. To cap off the Council weekend, the membership elected and appointed six Board members. Our very dedicated Nominations Committee, led by Annie Goldner of the Deschutes League, brought us a slate of excellent candidates. Three Board members terms were renewed and three brand new Board Members joined us. I, Mark Kendall was elected President of the League after having served six months as Interim. Jean Pierce, our 2nd Vice President, was re-elected to another two-year term to continue her leadership of our Action Committee. After having served as a Youth Council member of the Board, Evan Tucker was selected to serve another two years on the Board. Justin Ludwig of Lane County League was Board appointed in April. Jodi Gill of the Corvallis League was elected and Lin Mallardi from the Deschutes League was elected to the position of Treasurer to follow in the footsteps of our dedicated outgoing treasurer, Kermit Yensen. Take a look at the Council Workbook for details of these new members qualifications. We are in good hands. ________ Is it Council or Convention this year you ask? Well, it depends on whether you’re talking LWVUS or LWVOR. The LWVUS Convention is coming right up in Columbus, Ohio, June 25 -28th . If any Oregon local Leagues or Units will not have delegates representing them at the national LWVUS Convention, please let the LWVOR office know if you haven't already. We may have colleagues in attendance as observers that can carry your proxy. We want our voices heard! There are a number of workshops required of delegates in advance of the LWVUS Convention. Registration is now closed for in person LWVUS Convention Attendance. However, you can register for these pre-convention educational workshops regardless of your Convention registration status. You need to register and can attend them in real-time on ZOOM in person or view them at a later time but only if you registered for them in advance. Do register and participate, these are designed to improve your participation and effectiveness engaging your colleagues from across the nation, and they’re required of delegates. These are excellent workshops if you plan to attend Convention virtually as an observer or even in future years. Those workshops include: Monday, June 1 at 2pm PT 2026 Convention Rules and Parliamentary Procedure​ Wednesday, June 3 at 2pm PT 2026 Convention Bylaws Q&A​ Monday, June 8 at 12pm PT 2026 Convention: Debate and Voting for Virtual Delegates Tuesday, June 9 at 3pm PT Your Future Leadership: Meet the 2026–2028 LWVUS Slate of Nominees Wednesday, June 10 at 1pm PT Resolutions Committee Office Hours​​ Monday, June 15 at 12pm PT 2026 Convention: Budget Information Pre-Convention Webinar​ Tuesday, June 16 at 2pm PT 2026 Convention: Debate and Voting for In-Person Delegates Ongoing league governance requires planning, attention to detail and process, time- commitment, and effective organization. Our local, state and national leagues Council and Convention events are our vehicles to just and effective governance. Thank you for all your dedicated service. In League, Mark Kendall LWVOR President

Jean Pierce, Action Chair Occasionally I am asked why the League engages in advocacy. Right from the start - when the League was first created, women were demanding the ability to vote in order to make their voices heard about issues important to them. At that time, the issues included child welfare, education, the home and high prices, women in gainful occupations, public health and morals, and independent citizenship for married women. LWVOR Action Committee members hold portfolios for the issues they address. They attend committee meetings, track legislation, and write legislative reports. In addition, they draft and present testimony supporting or opposing legislation based on positions approved by the League membership and published in LWVOR’s Issues for Action and LWVUS’s Impact on Issues. Currently, there are 25 active members of the committee but more are needed! Please contact advocacy@lwvor.org to learn how you can help make the League’s voice heard on issues important to you. Be sure to watch the video summarizing League work during the 2026 legislative session and describing our needs for volunteers.

Youth Rights Youth Council LWVOR encourages youth participation in government at every level. Read More

Youth Council < Back About the Issue LWVOR Youth Council is a youth-led nonpartisan network of young civic leaders focused on increasing political engagement among young Oregon voters. Youth Council offers: Membership at three levels! Includes LWV of the US, LWV of Oregon, and your local League Opportunities for participation as a national and state convention delegate or observer Participatory civic engagement and education Community service hours with Certificates of Recognition Find out more and join here !

Back to Legislative Report Revenue Legislative Report - Week of 3/9 Revenue Team Coordinator: Peggy Lynch REVENUE Patricia Garner, Josie Koehne, Peggy Lynch The short session is over. The Governor still has to decide if she’s signing the legislation. And the work is not done. There was not enough revenue to fund the 2025-27 budget without cuts and new legislation as shared below. The Feb. 4 Revenue Forecast guided the spending for the 2026 legislative session. Carl Ricidonna, Oregon’s State Economist, provided his report, along with Michael Kennedy, Senior Economist. See pages 17 and 20 for the important numbers. And the Legislative Revenue Office’s Forecast Summary . LWVOR participated with several other volunteer and non-profit organizations in the unofficial Oregon Revenue Coalition that worked together to find ways to preserve Oregon revenue in the light of lost federal income from Congress’s passage of H.R.1 which would cut major sources of funding for Medicaid, SNAP and many other services. ( Signed on to letter in January.) We focused on a bill to limit the damage caused by Oregon’s rolling connection to federal income tax law, since legislation to disconnect from the federal law failed in the 2025 long session. This session SB 1507 A passed (Senate (17-13) on Feb. 16 and House (34/21/4/1) on Feb. 25 ) that disconnected from certain sections of the federal code that the Legislative Revenue Office (LRO) reported would save Oregon $311.6 million in revenue this biennium and $313.9 million in the 2027-29 biennium, while providing increased funding for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) at a cost of $26.2 and $52.7 million per biennium respectively. The League has long supported an increase in the EITC. Summaries of the 44-page bill and its amendments can be found here . LWVOR testimony in support. At least one legislator is considering collecting signatures to place portions of the bill on the ballot per this Oregonlive article. Of concern is that the referral process allows petitioners to select parts of the bill. In this case, they could leave off the increase in the EITC while only asking voters to stop the disconnect—which, in part, is expected to pay for that EITC increase. HB 5204 is the final bill that balances the budget as required by state law. In the bill, the legislature made over $128 million in cuts , mostly in agency services and supplies and by not filling vacancies and shifting remaining funds around to fill in some gaps. This was fewer cuts than anticipated at the start of the session. But they also funded or rebalanced some agency programs and staff. The -2 amendment was adopted . See the 4 Analysis documents for the budget additions and reductions, Budget Notes and final LFO recommendation. Passed the House and Senate Mar. 6. Oregonlive article and the Oregon Capital Chronicle addressed the 2025-27 budget rebalance. The Oregonian did a final budget review . SB 1601 was the Program Change bill. The -3 amendment was adopted and includes rebalance of ODOT’s programs in Section 11-23 and clarifies the 1% of lottery monies for county fair upgrades and repairs. Passed the Senate and House Mar 6. SB 5701 amends the limits established during the 2025 legislative session for the maximum amount of bonds and other financing agreements that state agencies may issue. The proceeds from the issuance of bonds are included as revenues in agency budgets. The -2 amendment and the LFO Recommendation includes increases in general obligation and lottery revenue bonds authorized. Bond sales are not anticipated until the spring of 2027. Passed the Senate and House Mar. 6. SB 5702 : Establishes and modifies limits on payment of expenses from specified funds by certain state for capital construction . Capital Construction 6-year limitation. -1 amendment LFO Recommendation Mar. 5 passed Senate. Mar. 6 passed House. SB 5703 : Modifies amounts allocated from the Administrative Services Economic Development Fund, Veterans' Services Fund, Criminal Fine Account, Oregon Marijuana Account and Fund for Student Success. Mar. 5 passed Senate. Mar. 6 passed House. HB 5203 : Approves certain new or increased fees adopted by state agencies. The bill includes the Dept. of State Lands Wetlands processing fees set forth during rulemaking for which the League engaged. Fee Ratification. LFO Recommendation Mar. 6 Passed the House and Senate. SB 1510 : Updates the terminology used to describe certain income earned by multinational corporations to reflect a change in the term used in federal law a bill. This omnibus bill, with amendments, would provide an opportunity to explore additional tax policy for consideration in the 2027 session. It is easier to understand the many provisions of SB 1510 by reviewing the summary provided by the Legislative Revenue Office of the bill and its -4 amendments . Feb. 24: Passed the Senate (28/1/1). Passed the House Mar. 4. HB 4014 : Establishes the Task Force on Taxation of International Income with the amendments. -2 amendment replaced the “study” bill. Staff Measure Summary . Due to this complicated tax policy, parties agreed to use the interim to consider impacts on this federal tax policy on Oregon revenue. Passed the House floor (32/26/2). On to the Senate floor at adjournment. Business interests want to have this conversation behind closed doors rather than an open public Task Force. The bill died but the conversation will continue. SB 1511 : A bill modifying the estate tax that would have increased the $1 million exemption to the estate tax to $2.5 million failed this session. The tax rates would have been greatly increased for the highest valued estates but fewer estates would pay an estate tax. For the first biennium, the revenue would have been about the same as our current estate tax SB 1511 . The revenue staff provided this analysis on the A -3 amendment that was approved by the Senate) with no expected revenue loss for this biennium, but $35 million by 2029-31. The bill did not pass out of House Revenue by end of session, but may be back in the long session. Two bills focused on increasing tax incentives for economic development faced intense debate and scrutiny, and one , SB 1586 , was withdrawn on March 3 due to much public outcry about tax breaks for data centers and the expansion of the Metro’s Urban Growth Boundary into land zoned as rural agricultural land, in violation of the 2014 Grand Bargain. OPB provided an article on this contentious bill. LWVOR testimony in opposition to the bill and additional testimony opposing the -7 amendment . The bill remained in Senate Finance and Revenue at the end of session, but is likely back in some form in 2027. The other economic development bill, HB 4084 A introduced by Governor Kotek, would fast track the permitting process for certain new business development t o be completed within 120 days, by means of a specially appointed Joint Permitting Council to oversee the each permitting agency’s permitting process. This section of the bill aligns with a federal program: Permitting Council’s FAST-41 Assistance for States. In addition, in the bill as introduced, all local property taxes abatements for Enterprise Zones were to be extended. This bill was also controversial because of these extensions since it would allow data centers which are hotly contested throughout the US, and which are the primary recipients of these tax credits, to not pay local property taxes for many years. After several amendments, three were incorporated into the final bill. LWVOR comments . The final bill included these provisions as summarized by LRO: Removes the $40 million General Fund appropriation to OBDD for deposit into the Industrial Site Loan Fund. (However, HB 5204 included $10 million for the Regional Infrastructure Fund, $5 million to support horse racing events at county fairgrounds, $5 million cash and $10 million bonds into the Industrial Site Loan Fund, and $10 million in lottery bond funds. The bonding bill provided targeted investments in sewer and water projects statewide to help with increased housing development demands.) Modifies SB 1507 (2026) to limit the tax credit for job creation to certain specified qualified industries. To qualify for the tax credit, a taxpayer must receive an attestation-based certification from Business Oregon, who will develop the tax credit application process, establish job creation determination methodology, and further define the term “qualified industry” through rulemaking. Excludes any qualified property of an authorized business in an enterprise zone with an operating data center from entering into a written agreement with the enterprise zone sponsor to 1) extend the period during which the qualified property is exempt from taxation beyond the allowable three years; 2) agree to flexible hiring timelines; and 3) approve alternative performance criteria. Prohibits data center properties from authorization as an eligible business firm prior to 90 days after the adjournment of the 2027 legislative session. An amendment was added at the end that puts this one-year moratorium on all new data center development certifications by Business Oregon, starting three months after the close of session. This allows the Governor’s Oregon Data Center Advisory Committee time to consider the various impacts of data center development on Oregon, and to report back to the Legislature with their recommendations. It also limits the existing Standard Enterprise (for urban areas) tax break to three years, but allows all other currently operating data centers, including those in rural areas of the state, to continue to receive tax breaks through the extended time periods as outlined in the bill. Oregonlive provided a great analysis of the impact of data centers. Oregonlive update on data centers in this legislation. Oregon data center operators will save nearly a half-billion dollars in local property taxes this year through three different incentive programs. Kotek’s legislation, House Bill 4084 , would expand the fastest growing of those three programs. HB 4148 : Allows city and county services for which net local transient lodging tax revenue may be used to be provided either directly by the city or county or indirectly by a special district. The -7 amendment adopted that changes the percentage to 50/50 and passed the House floor Feb. 25 (40/12/4/4). Mar. 5 Passed the Senate (23/6/1). SJR 201 : Kicker Reform: Proposed an amendment to the Oregon Constitution to require a portion of surplus revenue that would otherwise be returned to personal income taxpayers to be used for funding public kindergarten through grade 12 education, community colleges and wildfire prevention and suppression, if surplus revenue exceeds a certain threshold. OPB covered a story about the bill . T he League has long supported kicker reform but we also note that, with our new state economist, another kicker is not expected in the near term. The bill did not get a Work Session. HB 4136 : Disallows, for purposes of personal income taxation, a mortgage interest deduction for a residence other than the taxpayer’s principal residence , unless the taxpayer sells the residence or actively markets the residence for sale. The bill had one public hearing on Feb. 16 and died in committee. The League is hopeful that a version of this bill will return in 2027. HB 4125 : Prescribes methodology for the preparation of revenue estimates used in the budgeting process and as applicable to the surplus revenue refund process — potential kicker reform. Public Hearing Feb. 2. The bill died in Committee . On Feb. 20, the US Supreme Court declared that President Trump does not have authority to impose widespread tariffs under a specific federal statute. Oregon’s Attorney General, Dan Rayfield, led the coalition of states arguing that the President did not have this authority. HB 4061 B passed that provides monies to help Oregon businesses hurt by these tariffs. Budget Report . The bill passed the House on Mar. 3 and passed the Senate Mar. 6. On Thursday Mar. 5, Rayfield and officials from 23 other states filed a lawsuit against the new tariff at the U.S. Court of International Trade, with Oregon again leading the way. “Budget aftershocks from the Trump cuts to Medicaid and SNAP will keep hitting Oregon in future years,” said Senator Jama. “Oregon lawmakers must continue working together to make resources stretch and to help families thrive.” As we await the May 20th Revenue Forecast, we watch for data that may change the forecast. Oregonlive reports that Oregon exports are down. Then we now have a war with Iran that, so far, has increased gas and diesel prices. That increases costs to state agencies, local governments, Oregon businesses and individuals. Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — supply more than a third of the world’s urea, an important nitrogen fertilizer, and nearly a quarter of another one, ammonia. And they all use the Strait of Hormuz to export their products. So that means less food production and an increase in food prices. The February national jobs report was not good (loss of almost 100,000 jobs) and the national unemployment rate rose to 4.4%. (In Oregon, we’re at 5.2%.) As we watch the U.S. and Oregon’s economy, we note the Oregon Capital Chronicle Jobs Report article , of special concern as Oregon is an income tax state. According to this Oregonlive article , Oregonians are working the fewest hours since 2010. Oregon workers are spending less time on the job, another indication that the state’s labor market continues to sag. The average Oregonian worked less than 33 hours a week in December, according to federal data. That’s the lowest number since 2010, when the state was still digging out from the Great Recession — even worse than the sharp decline that accompanied the pandemic. As we continue to be concerned about the economy, we note a study related to AI: Brookings Institution study on AI job losses and adaptability points out metros most at risk – Portland Business Journal Roughly 30% of workers displaced by artificial intelligence will struggle to find new jobs, according to a new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research and Brookings Institution. While 70% of highly AI-exposed workers would likely be able to transition to another job, the rest may have trouble adapting “due to limited savings, advanced age, scarce local opportunities, and/or narrow skill sets. ”What’s more, of the displaced workers in low-adaptive jobs, 86% are women. The League will continue to work with the Oregon Revenue Coalition and others as we address the need for increased revenue to pay for the services Oregonians need. The Ways and Means Co-Chairs warn of increased demand and federal funding cuts for the 2027-29 and 2029-31 biennia. It's time to work with state agencies as they develop their 2027-29 budgets. Here’s some budget guidance that agencies have received: 2027-29 Budget Guidance: Governor's Letter and CFO 2027-29 Budget POP Guidance . Bottom line: The Governor has asked state agencies to provide a “neutral” budget. If they want to add a program or staff, they need to find a program or staff to remove from their budget request. You can contact the agency you want to engage with as they work to provide proposals to the Governor around June. See other sections of the Legislative Report for information about specific agencies or areas of concern.